Yesterday: 50 Years of Beatlemania in Melbourne

The Beatles in Australia exhibition opens at the Arts Centre on March 8. Look back at half a century of memories in a series of old photographs.

Paul McCartney during the Melbourne leg of the tour at the Melbourne Town Hall, showing his boomerang skills to Melbourne Lord Mayor Leo Curtis. Photo: Fairfax Photographic

Memorabilia from the Beatles' tour of Melbourne. Photo: Supplied

Memorabilia from the Beatles' tour of Melbourne. Photo: Supplied

Memorabilia from the Beatles' tour of Melbourne.

Crowds waiting to see the Beatles outside the Melbourne Town Hall, June 1964. The mayhem that greeted The Beatles in June 1964 came only six months after their first number 1 hit here in December 1963. Ted Baillieu recalls: 'The funny thing is I can remember to this day the first time I heard the Beatles on radio. The guy came on and said we’re going to play for the first time a song from a new young band from England called the Beatles. I can remember that introduction.' Photo: Fairfax Photographic

A teenage fan overcome by her emotions is escorted from the Beatles concert at Festival Hall by an usher and policeman, Melbourne, June 1964. Teenage fans at the concert. When the Beatles took to the stage at Festival Hall, Molly Meldrum recalls: 'I remember I was surfing down at Point Leo and hearing for the first time on a very pitchy radio in the sand dunes a Beatles song. I’d never heard anything quite like it before. But it was just magic. When they announced they were going to tour Australia Ronnie Burns and myself went to Myers on Lonsdale Street and we camped outside overnight to get the tickets.' Photo: John Lamb

The Beatles at the Melbourne Town Hall on Tuesday 16 June 1964 for a civic reception hosted by Lord Mayor Leo Curtis. Photo: John Lamb

The hotel bed sheets letter from the memorabilia of the Beatles' tour of Melbourne.

A collage of memorabilia from the Beatles' tour of Melbourne.

Birthday party arrangements.

The Beatles at a press conference at the Southern Cross Hotel, Melbourne, June 15 1964. Molly Meldrum recalls: 'We had spent all night and morning outside the Southern Cross waiting for them to arrive and I was there waiting, climbing trees in the middle of the road. All we could hear on the radio was ‘They’re on their way’. They were coming from Essendon airport. A car came around and I raced to the car and unfortunately it ran over my foot. I went down and got up and I looked around and just pretended I was part of security.' Photo: Fairfax Photographic

The Beatles, Melbourne Town Hall, 1964. If you were there, you have never forgotten the experience, says historian Glenn A. Baker. 'The Beatles did not disappoint anybody when they came. They just came here and they lightened our lives.' Photo: John Lamb

The Beatles, Melbourne Town Hall, 1964. When Lord Mayor Leo Curtis decided to hold a civic reception for the Beatles, he had no idea the city would grind to a halt as fans swamped the CBD. His daughter Vikki recalls: 'He brought them into the city and acknowledged them. From the Town Hall balcony you can see down Swanston Street and you can also see down Collins Street and it was just a sea of people.' Photo: John Lamb

Fans greet the Beatles at Essendon Airport as the band arrives in Melborne, June 1964. Photo: Fairfax Photographic

The Lord Mayor's invitation from the memorabilia of the Beatles' tour of Melbourne.